THE Conservative Party is facing questions about its new deputy chair’s views on white supremacy.
Lee Anderson, who was promoted to the top party role by Rishi Sunak on Tuesday, has close ties to a person named Martin “Fluke” Dudley – who has been described as a “veteran far-right stalwart”.
Dudley – who has the well-known white supremacist hate symbol Odin’s Cross tattooed on his leg – has been pictured wearing a T-shirt that reads “NO REMORSE WHITE PRIDE” on more than one occasion, including in a photo allegedly shared by Anderson himself on social media.
The T-shirt in question also has an image of Odin’s Cross, which the Anti-Defamation League says is “one of the most important and commonly used white supremacist symbols”.
“[The symbol] is used by neo-Nazis, racist skinheads, Ku Klux Klan members and virtually every other type of white supremacist,” ADL’s Hate Symbols Reference Database states.
Private Eye reported in October: “On Facebook in June he [Anderson] posted a photo of Fluke in the WHITE PRIDE shirt, alongside a few other members of the [Skegby Scooter] Club.
“‘Proper people with hearts of gold who love their community,’ the MP wrote. ‘I am deeply humbled to represent you all.’”
The post in question has been deleted from Anderson’s Facebook, but another from June 2022 which is still up also features Dudley, who Private Eye referred to as a “veteran far-right stalwart”.
A post from one day prior saw the Tory MP give “special mention” to Dudley, who he called by his nickname “Fluke”.
Private Eye also pointed to a selfie Dudley took with Anderson in August (above) while “wearing a black-and-yellow Fred Perry polo shirt with a laurel wreath logo – the very design that Fred Perry stopped producing two years ago because it had been adopted as a uniform by America's neo-fascist Proud Boys”.
Dudley is involved with the Skegby Scooter Club, which is based in Anderson’s constituency of Ashfield.
The Tory MP has frequently been involved with the club, posting on social media that they are “top lads” who “make me feel proud to be Ashfield born and bred”.
In September, the Skegby Scooter Club posted on Facebook promoting an event with Anderson to raise funds for one Jake Stark to take part in a mixed martial art tournament in Italy.
The club asked that people “please do pop by as the Ashfield MP Lee Anderson is going to donate £5 for each scooter that turns up (max of 50)”.
The following day, Skegby Scooter Club posted an image of Dudley at an event wearing his “NO REMORSE WHITE PRIDE” T-shirt.
No white ‘guilt’
In 2021, Anderson praised a fellow Tory MP, James Sunderland, for saying that “we will never bow to those that suggest that white people should feel guilty for being white or those that pedal the notion of white privilege”.
The Tory deputy chair said Sunderland was “right you know” in a Facebook post which saw comments such as “I have no guilt only pride”, “I am proud of being White and English and I feel no guilt whatsoever”, and “spot on.. we’re not the race with chips on our shoulders.. we’re proud of who we are!!!”.
Elsewhere, Anderson has variously raged against the idea of white privilege. In one video posted in November 2020, the MP said he was “sick to death of seeing people … saying we should teach about white privilege”.
Opposition to Black Lives Matter
Anderson has made no secret of his opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement. He refused to watch England games during the Euro 2020 tournament after players decided to “take the knee” ahead of each match in a protest against racism.
Anderson boycotted the games, despite England reaching the final, saying the players were “supporting a political movement whose core principles aim to undermine our very way of life”.
“All forms of racism are vile and should be stamped out – but this is not the way,” he added.
Neither the Conservative Party nor Anderson responded to The National’s request for comment.
